Mastercard said it will begin phasing out the use of magnetic stripes on its credit and debit cards.
The Purchase-headquartered company noted the magnetic stripe technology was introduced in the 1960s, but advances in chip card and biometric card technologies have made the older technology less efficient.
Beginning in 2024, new Mastercard credit and debit cards will no longer be required to have magnetic stripes.
“By 2033, no Mastercard credit and debit cards will have magnetic stripes, which leaves a long runway for the remaining partners who still rely on the technology to phase in chip card processing,” said the company in a press statement.
The demise of the magnetic strip can also be attributed to the rise of contactless payments spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic. Mastercard noted it recorded 1 billion more contactless transactions in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020 while 45% of its in-person checkout transactions in the second quarter of 2021 were contactless.
